Gordon Brown's press conference - live

[Legal Beagles]

9:47am: Andy Bell from Five News asks about Barack Obama. Won't Brown have to have an argument with him if he wants to get a trade deal?
Brown says that in the 1930s the failure of a world trade conference in London plunged the world in a decade of recession. The world needs to avoid that now. There would be benefits for all countries.
He says there is "very little" that divides the countries trying to negotiate a trade deal.
Robinson gets a second question, unusually. He asks if Brown can be "honest" with the public and say that taxes will have to go up after the election.
Brown says he's always honest with the electorate. But it's "too early" to say what will happen in three or four years' time. What matters is what is necessary now. All around the world countries like China are using fiscal policies (ie tax cuts) to stimulate their economies.
Bob Roberts from the Mirror asks when people will see these tax cuts.
Brown says that they are already seeing tax cuts, such as the £120 cut going to basic rate taxpayers as a result of the decision to raise allowances.
Tom Bradby from ITN asks if Brown would have kept debt lower if he knew there was a recession coming.
Brown says debt in Britain is lower than America, France, Japan and Italy. In a reference to the Tories, he says a funded tax cut is not a fiscal stimulus (because the fact that it's funded means that it is not putting extra money into the economy). In other words, Brown is making a virtue of the fact that he's favouring unfunded tax cuts.
9:41am: Adam Boulton from Sky says the essential division in politics is between those who believe that Britain can afford more borrowing and those who do not. Brown appears to believe that there is scope for a fiscal stimulus. Is that correct?
Brown says Britain has lower public debt than most of its neighbours. The Conservative proposal is not a funded tax cut, he says. They have already proposed £12bn of unfunded tax cuts, he adds. The Conservatives cannot explain how the plans will be funded, he says.
9:38am: He's taking questions now.
Nick Robinson from the BBC asks why the IMF is predicting the recession will be worse in Britain. And won't that eventually mean taxes going up.
Brown says that other countries have already moved into recession. Although Britain has a larger financial system than other countries, this country is better placed to deal with the downturn.
9:36am: Brown has started. He is laying out his plans for a reform of the international financial system.
In every country, banks are essential to financial stability. Today the business secretary, Peter Mandelson, will be unveiling a new code of responsibility for bank lending.
The government is also asking the credit card industry to establish new rules on responsible lending.
9:33am: It's a day for competitive press conferences. David Cameron has already held a press conference, at 8.30, which he used to announce a £2.6bn plan to cut unemployment. And Gordon Brown is now retaliating with his own press conference.

• Gordon Brown
• Politics and the media
• Tax and spending
• Economic policy
• Recession
• Tax
• Income tax

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[Amethyst]

Re: Gordon Brown's press conference - live

10:01am: Macer Hall from the Daily Express asks Brown to give a "personal guarantee" that employment will not rise above 3 million.
Brown says he will guarantee to do everything he can to help people who lose their jobs. He says the new deal is the best employment-creation scheme in the world. But the Tories are committed to scrapping it.
Joe Murphy from the Evening Standard asks Brown if he is confident about the case for a third runway at Heathrow. And does Brown support Sir Ian Blair's large pay-off?
Brown says demand for air travel will double. Alternatives to Heathrow have been considered and "found wanting". But the government is still weighing up other issues, like the environmental considerations.
Brown says demand for air flight will double.
9:59am: An Icelandic radio journalist wants to know why it was necessary to use anti-terrorist legislation against one of the Icelandic banks, when the government used different, non-terrorist legislation against another bank. This created a stigma, she said, and may have contributed to the collapse of the currency.
Brown says he did everything "appropriately" and "by the book, within the laws of our country". It was necessary to protect British assets.
9:58am: Kitty Donaldson from Bloomberg asks when bank lending will return to normal.
Brown mentions Mandelson's small business summit this afternoon. A process will be set up that monitors bank lending.
Andrew Porter from the Daily Telegraph asks if it is inevitable that there will be tax rises at a later date.
Brown says the government has to set out how there will be sustainable finances for the future. That's a matter for the pre-budget report. But Porter is "jumping the gun".
9:55am: On Afghanistan, Brown says Britain has already increased its troop deployment in the country. There are 8,000 troops there, making it the second largest deployment. But there must be "burden sharing" among other countries.
Asked about the summit, Brown repeats his point about it being important for countries to take action together.
Britain has "led the way" on the recapitalisation of banks around the world. And Britain is now "leading the way" on these issues (ie, tax cuts) too.
9:50am: A French journalist asks about the world summit in Washington at the weekend. What's the point of it taking place when Barack Obama, soon to be the most powerful man in the world, won't be there?
Brown says he has talked to Obama, and that thr president-elect is in favour of reforms to the global financial system.
George Pascoe-Watson from the Sun asks how the government will ensure that people spend the money the receive in tax cuts. And will he commit more troops to Afghanistan.
On tax cuts, Brown mentions the winter fuel allowance. Of course he will be looking at other measures. But that is money that is "likely to be spent in the economy". This is a subject that will be discussed at the conference at the weekend.
9:49am: He wants other countries to join with Britain in using the "fiscal stimulus" approach.
Gary Gibbon from Channel 4 asks how big a tax cut would have to be to have an effect.
Brown says that's a matter for the pre-budget report. So far this year there have already been tax cuts of £3.6bn.
But Brown says, to make a difference, tax cuts would have to be matched by other tax cuts around the world, to ensure that the global economy recovers.
Consumers also need confidence in the system. That's why financial reform matters too.